Infamous Second Son

Our First Hands On With Infamous: Second Son

The only two games for which I have PlayStation 3 platinum trophies are Sucker Punch's super-powered Infamous and Infamous 2. You might imagine that I was interested to get my hands on the first PlayStation 4 entry in the series, Infamous: Second Son.

In the short demo I played, new protagonist Delsin Rowe has just arrived to Seattle. In order to enter the city, he needs to get past Department of Unified Protection (DUP) guards.

The world of Infamous: Second Son is one of paranoia, and everyone coming into the city must be tested for conduit powers (activated by players putting their finger on the DualShock 4 touchpad). Unfortunately for Delsin, he not only trips the sensors, but he's identified as a "prime conduit" (which isn't yet explained).

Because of this, DUP guards shoot first and ask questions later. This gave us a chance to take combat through its paces.

The most important takeaway is that Second Son feels right. The controls have been changed, though. Jump and melee attacks remain on the same buttons (square and X respectively). Firing smoke bolts moves to R2, but Delsin can fire from the hip (aim mode is still in for more precise targeting, though). The smoke blast can also be charged for a more devastating effect, and I was able to take down guard towers with ease.

You do not need to be in aim mode in order to blast enemies.This keeps Delsin more mobile, and in combination with his dash, he can easily burst into a fight and retreat back when things get too hot. There are hints of a karma system in the demo, and Delsin can choose to subdue or execute some enemies. Sucker Punch wouldn't divulge more than that, though.

At the end of the Gamescom trailer, we saw Delsin seemingly absorb a new ability. We got to take another of his powersets out for a test drive. The neon abilities weren't fully unlocked for us, but we did see how absorbing that element impacts traversal.

By holding the dash button (circle) Delsin will move in a straight line at high speeds. He isn't bound by gravity, and can quickly run up walls or away from a fight.

After playing around with that for a bit, we switched back to smoke to test out the different traversal types. Both have versions of Cole's static thrusters from Infamous 1 and 2, but the smoke ability also gives Delsin quick exits when near a vent. He can zip through them from ground level to the rooftops in seconds.

As we pushed ahead to our final battle, we encountered DUP guards with some super powers of the their own. This felt familiar, as fighting other conduits often posed some of the more interesting moments of open world encounters in the previous two titles.

Finally, we destroyed a large DUP vehicle while under assault from dozens of guards. The demo ended with an enormously powerful explosion caused by Delsin rocketing into the air and slamming back down to earth. At the apex of his jump, his character shines through as he gives the camera a too-clever grin.

Infamous is slated for a February 2014 release. For more, be sure to read our coverage from the June 2013 issue.

Can't wait, loved the first two and it looks like Sucker Punch is shooting for the highest production values they've ever had. These have some of the best action gameplay in a third person game, glad so many more people seem excited for this one.

They removed L1 aiming? PLEASE tell me this is a joke. It's honestly enough of a dumb decision to make me not want to buy it now. That's why the shooting in the gameplay vids looks so weird and less satisfying.

This game is already looking as insanely good since I first laid eyes on it. It might very well be the PS4's first definite next-gen experience and no doubt people's GOTY contender, you just know it might. I'll be sorely tempted to get a PS4 for it alone, though I probably won't. Cheers to those PS4 owners who put it in their machines in February.

Too bad I'm not getting a new console any time soon (at least until the PS4 slim comes out) cos this is looking really awesome. Infamous 1 and 2 were some of my favorite PS3 games, and this is looking much better than both of them combined.

It's really gonna suck to have to wait to be a giant evil bugger (I suck at non-swearing), kill helpless civilians for their energies, commit every renegade choice in the story and hopefully destroy the entire city at the end.

Playing Cole as a bad guy was so much fun, hopefully this will be, too.

Honestly, I liked Infamous, and I enjoyed 2, but they weren't earth shattering to me or anything. More than anything, I loved the traversal and story, but I didn't much care for Cole.

I loved Zeke, I thought his character was fantastic. I just couldn't stand Cole being all "Oh woe is me, I have super powers" ya know?

So when I first heard about Second Son, I was like, eh, I give it a look. After seeing it in motion, and seeing the direction that they're taking with Delsin, I lost my mind at how good this game looks.

You get to steal conduit powers Mega Man style, and Delsin is actually excited to have super powers. I feel like that's the most refreshing thing about this new game. For me at least.

Delsin's brother: "You seem to be getting the hang of your new...symptoms"

Delsin: "Right? Of course the only downside being that...uh...nope, I can't think of anything, this is pretty friggin awesome." - That pretty much sums up why I'm excited for this game. Well, it also doesn't hurt that the game actually looks next gen. Those graphics are pretty maaaaaaaan.

I recently got back into Infamous. When the 30% bonus trade-in Sunday came around last week, I went back and Platinum'd Infamous 2 before I turned it in since all I had left was to finish the good story...helped me remember why I bought the game in the first place and renewed my interest in the series.